What Could Have Happened
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Follows Broken Family- Mike was scared. Emily could have been killed. He could have lost her. Will he?
1. Mike's Reaction

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Samurai_

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><p>Since the breakup, Mike hadn't come out of his room. He just laid there, in his bed, in the dark, alone, and whenever someone came in to see if he was okay, he hid under the covers and pretended to be sleeping.<p>

But eventually he stopped pretending. Eventually he did fall asleep. And in his dreams, his fears were confirmed over and over again. He watched as Dekker tortured Emily for her stupidity. He watched, and there was nothing he could do to help because Emily hadn't told him where she was. All he could do was stand there and watch as Dekker delivered blow after blow and Emily, less and less, tried to run away.

Then, Dekker did what Mike was really scared he would do. He started to touch her. And too weak to fight back, the only thing Emily could do was let him. Mike watched, screaming for Dekker to stop, but no one heard him. Dekker told Emily she owed him. She couldn't take his son away without giving him something in return.

Mike closed his eyes. He couldn't watch. He knew it was just a dream but he couldn't wake up.

When he did open his eyes, he was standing somewhere new. He was right in front of Emily who was tied to a tree, unable to move any part of her body at all. Mike looked down and saw the only part of her that wasn't tied with rope was her stomach. Her expanded stomach. She was pregnant. Mike placed his hand on her stomach before her noticed her eyes were suddenly wide. She was staring right through him so he turned around to see what she was looking at.

Dekker was coming back. Mike tried to protect her, but Dekker walked right through him. He remembered he wasn't actually there. Emily hadn't told him her plan. He didn't know.

He turned around to scream at Dekker, who was forcing Emily to eat and drink, but as soon as he spun around, Mike found himself somewhere else. Emily was no longer tied to the tree. He looked around for her and what he found shocked him.

Dekker was standing in the middle of the woods holding what appeared to be a newborn baby. A little ways away was Emily, lying in the dirt, too weak to do anything but watch Dekker and wait for him to decide her fate.

"Emily!" he heard someone scream and he saw all the others, himself included, finally arriving. He couldn't believe it had taken this long for them to find. His entire body started to shake as he watched himself fall by Emily's side and the other Rangers stood around her, protecting her from Dekker.

Dekker started to laugh, "You are all too late," he said and held out the newborn by the throat. He wasn't choking her because she was already dead. Mike watched, horrified as Dekker tossed the dead infant over to Emily, "You take my son away from me, yellow Ranger. I'll take your daughter from you."

With the last of her strength, Emily tried to reach for her daughter but she couldn't make it. Her hand fell into the dirt before she could reach. Mike watched as his dream-self grabbed her in his arms.

"Why didn't you tell anyone, Em?"

Mike approached himself and Emily. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Dekker was right. It was too late. His dream-self closed her eyes. She was dead.

Mike woke up with a start. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling like he couldn't breathe. It was all just a dream, but it felt so real. It felt like it could have happened. Had Emily's plan not worked, it could have happened.

He pounded his fists into his bed. She should have told him. He could have protected her. He couldn't believe how lucky she had gotten. Losing her was too much. Losing her would kill him, and each and every time she found herself in danger, he felt himself dying a little more.

And now she was gone. She was alive, but she was gone. She had broken up with him. She had tossed the ring back like it meant nothing. In every way, Mike felt he had lost her. She was gone in real life and dead in his dreams.

He grabbed his pillow and threw it across the room. It hit the lamp on his desk and sent it to the floor. He jumped out of bed, grabbed everything on his nightstand and threw it all, one by one to the wall until he reached the snow globe. He dropped everything else, took a calming breath and stared at the snow globe.

Then, with everything he had, he launched it across the room and watched as it shattered upon impact with the wall. He picked up the rest of the stuff and started to throw them as well until someone grabbed him. He looked down and saw Emily.

"That's my stuff!" she screamed at him. He grabbed her arms and pushed her into the bed.

"You could have fucking killed yourself!" he screamed, pressing her into the mattress. "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you?"

"I had to protect Terran," Emily answered him.

"What if he had killed you?"

"I don't care…"

"I do!" Mike screamed and pressed a little harder against her chest, really pinning her against the bed, "We're a team, you idiot!"

"You wouldn't have let me go."

"Because it's Dekker!" Mike shouted, "He could have…"

"If I hadn't gone Dekker would still be looking for Terran. He'd still be in danger!"

"And we would all be here to protect him!"

"We'd die for him anyways!"

"I could have protected you!"

"I can protect myself."

"Oh yeah?" Mike asked. He pulled Emily up and threw her to the floor, "If you can't protect yourself against me, there's no way in hell you can protect yourself against Dekker!"

Mike pulled out his Samuraizer and traced a symbol. The window smashed as vines grew up from the ground outside and stretched into the room. They wrapped around Emily, grabbing her waist, her arms, her legs, and her neck. Emily tried to struggle but she was stuck. Mike took her Samuraizer and threw it across the room.

"You can't do these things, Emily!" he screamed at her.

"Mike! She can't breathe!"

Mike heard this and looked over to Emily as he realised what he had done. He had let his anger get the better of him. He recalled the vines and they dropped Emily to the floor. She gasped for breath.

Kevin and Antonio grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the room. They didn't give him a chance to explain at all.

They threw him into the dojo and locked him in. Mike heard Kevin slamming his fist against the door.

"You beat up the dummies!" he shouted angrily, "not your fiancée!"

Mike was done. He crawled over to the wall, leaned his back against it and hugged his knees. He was scared; he was so scared.


	2. A Second Chance

The door to the dojo finally opened, but it was the last person Mike wanted to see.

Serena stepped into the middle of the dojo, "You have two minutes to explain yourself."

Mike didn't know whether or not he should speak. There was really no explaining himself. Not to Emily's big sister, but he assumed he was going to get beat up regardless so he figured he might as well try something.

"Serena…"

"Where's Emily's ring?" Serena asked. Mike realised this was going to be a Q&A.

"In my pocket."

"Why doesn't she have it?"

"I was angry."

"Before or after you strangled her?"

"Before," Mike lowered his head. "She went off to find Dekker… she scared me."

"Why do you have her ring?"

"We broke up."

Serena bit her lip, trying to keep her own rage in check, "Why?"

"I got angry. I said some things that…"

"What?"

"I… it's not important."

"Michael…"

"I called her an idiot and a moron," Mike sighed, "Serena, I'm…"

"So you yelled at her and she just broke up with you?"

"Kind of."

"And you didn't like it? You strangled her?"

"No," Mike shook his head, "She went to see you, I guess and I spent the day in my room. I couldn't… I got angry and couldn't control myself. I started throwing things around. She came in and…"

"You strangled her."

"No! We just… we started to fight again. She said she could protect herself against Dekker and I stupidly asked her to prove it. If she couldn't protect herself against me, there was no way…"

"So you strangled her."

"No!"

"Yes!" Serena screamed. She walked over to Mike and shoved him into the wall, "I've just spent the last three hours telling her she was okay! You scared her, Mike! You almost killed her!"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry? Your sorry ass can forget about my sister! Your sorry ass should be thankful there's no replacement green Ranger or your sorry ass would be buried, along with the rest of your sorry self, six feet under my family's barn!"

Serena couldn't take it anymore. Another minute alone in the dojo with Mike and she was going to do something she regretted. She shoved him again before storming out, slamming the door shut behind her.

Mike fell back to the ground and hugged his knees. He waited for hours, thinking someone else would come to scream at him. He thought they would all come, one by one, to defend Emily and put him in his place.

But no one else turned up. It seemed no one wanted anything to do with him. He had noticed that when Serena left, she hadn't locked the door. She had been too angry to remember to lock him in. He ventured out. He was starving.

He made his way to the kitchen and sat at the table. He wasn't sure what he wanted to eat just yet. It was late at night and the house was dark. He didn't turn on any lights because he didn't want to wake anyone up.

So he sat in the dark and let his imagination run wild. A million different images came to mind, all of which were ways Dekker could have hurt or killed Emily. It scared him. It scared him to his very core. He started to get angry again, but just as he was about to get up he had a thought.

Emily was his entire world. There was nothing else that meant more to him. It was the reason he was so scared every time she got hurt or when she threw herself into danger like she did. Without her, he had no idea what to do. Without her, he wasn't sure he even wanted a life.

As much as it pained him to realise, he wasn't everything to Emily. He knew he meant a lot to her. She had proven it to him time and time again that he was irreplaceable. That was good enough. But Emily's world was, in a sense, a little larger than his. She counted on him, but also on Serena, and now that Terran had arrived, he was included in her little package. Just as Mike would do anything, even sacrifice himself for her, Emily would do the same for him, the same for Serena, and the same for Terran, and Mike had to like it or not.

Emily had done exactly what Mike would have done. If Emily had been threated, Mike would have stupidly gone out on his own and put his own life in danger.

He dropped his head in his hands and sighed, "I'm the moron…"

As he kicked himself for his stupidity he heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. His body wanted to flee, but his mind figured it was best to get another round of shouting over with now.

"Mike…" the voice didn't sound angry or threatening. It sounded scared. He turned around and in the dark he saw Emily. She was standing in the doorway and looking at him, terrified. She reached for the kitchen lights and flipped them on.

Mike jumped out of his seat. He held his hands up.

"I'm calm," he promised her.

Emily was frozen in fear. She didn't know what to do. Mike hated to see her this way.

Then he noticed the bruising around her neck and her right wrist. Her left wrist had already been wrapped in a yellow splint when he attacked her, but he was sure there was bruising there as well, and everywhere else the vines had grabbed her. His stomach turned. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Emily shrugged her shoulders.

Mike let out another sigh, "It's probably stupid of me to apologize, huh?"

Emily nodded her head. Mike lowered his own.

"But I am sorry, Em. You did the right thing protecting Terran. I guess… I just wish you would have told me about it. We've had this talk before."

Emily just nodded her head.

Mike ran his hands through his hair, "It's just… you really scared me, Em. A lot. You know what could have happened, right? That just keeps playing through my head. I see you hurt or dead and… I'm don't know what to say, Em. I'm just… I'm really, really sorry. If you want to break up with me forever… I get it."

Mike looked across at Emily. He knew he didn't deserve it, but he hoped she would give him a second chance. He hoped Emily would pull through for him and trust him, like she trusted everyone.

Emily placed her hand on her neck, "I had to do it."

Mike looked, horrified. He knew he had hurt her, but it hadn't really occurred to him just how badly. Her voice was raspy; broken sounding. It sounded like it was hard for her to make a sound. Tears filled his eyes and flooded down his cheeks in an instant.

"Emily…"

She walked over to the kitchen counter and pulled out some paper and a pen from one of the drawers. She wrote a note to Mike.

"_Mentor says it'll heal. He says I'll be fine_."

Mike read the note. He was about to write one back, so it was fair, but remembered Emily didn't like being forced to read. Being forced to write was bad enough, he figured, so he answered her orally.

"I did that?"

She nodded her head.

"Emily, I'm…" he interrupted himself when he saw she started to write something. He looked down at the note when she was finished.

"_Sorry? I know. I knew you wouldn't be happy."_

"I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You did exactly what I would have done. I just… I was scared."

"_Promise it won't happen again?"_

Mike read the note then looked to Emily. She was staring back at him, waiting for an answer like it was simple.

But it wasn't. He had a problem. He couldn't control himself. He could promise her he would try to contain himself and not lash out at her, but he couldn't promise this would never happen. It would be a lie, and it would be putting her in danger. He could never do that, no matter what it meant.

"I can't."

"_Why?"_

"Because, the whole reason this mess started was because I was scared of losing you. What if this does happen again and the others aren't here to save you?"

"_I don't need saving, Mike. You don't get it. Every time we fight the monsters we risk getting hurt or killed. No matter what I had done, whether you were there or not, I would have been in danger. But I was successful. My plan worked. That's got to say something! You always assume I need saving."_

Mike looked Emily in the eyes. She was right. Her plan had worked. He could imagine a thousand possibilities, but the truth was she was safe and sound at home. The most damage Dekker had done was he had sprained her wrist. Somehow, and in her own way, she had been stronger than him. She had fought him off.

"I'm sorry. You're right."

"_I need you guys only as much as you need me."_

"You're right."

Emily picked up an old note.

"_Promise it won't happen again?"_

Still, Mike shook his head.

"I can't control it, Em. When I snap, I snap. But I promise, I'll do all I can to keep you from being collateral damage. You don't deserve it."

Emily smiled. She drew a heart on a paper. Mike understood the meaning and smiled back.

"I love you too."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out her ring. He held it out for her. She stared at it curiously. Mike wasn't sure what to do. He got down on one knee.

"Emily, will you marry me?"

Emily shook her head. Mike's heart shattered and it was visible on his face. Emily quickly grabbed another paper.

"_We can't just go back. I can't just forget what happened. What if the others hadn't shown up?"_

Mike lowered his head and the ring as he realised again that she was right. He had really lost it and if the others hadn't shown up he would have lost her. He had no sense of control and no idea what he was doing.

"But are we still…?"

"_I'll give you a second shot."_

"Serena probably won't be happy."

"_No one's going to be happy. We'll double date. Mia and Kevin already invited me to join them."_

"For their Valentine's Day dinner? Their first?"

"_They thought it would cheer me up. And I think they wanted to get me away from you."_

Mike sighed. He got up off his knees. He still felt guilty.

He saw someone standing in the doorway and his blood ran cold. It was Serena. She was watching him. He had no idea how long she had been standing there. She did not look happy.

"How about we do this instead," Mike suggested to Emily, "Mia and Kevin can have their Valentine's Day back and you and I can stay home. Antonio, Jayden, Mentor, and Serena can keep an eye on us if they want."

"_And eye on you?"_

Mike chuckled, "Yeah, I guess. How does that sound?"

"_It's a date."_

Mike smiled as Emily walked off. He was half-expecting a kiss, but he understood why she didn't try. He was back to square one. Everything they had accomplished together was gone. Fortunately, he had a chance to recover. He had a chance to prove himself again. Emily hadn't given up on him completely. She was willing to trust him a second time. That was all he needed.

Hopefully the others wouldn't try to discourage her.

He watched Emily leave. She slipped past Serena, who lied and said she had just gotten up to get a glass of water. As Emily walked off, Serena approached Mike.

He looked to her nervously, "You're not happy."

"She trusts you."

"It's not misplaced," Mike promised.

"You nearly killed her!" Serena wanted to scream but kept her voice low. "How the hell am I ever supposed to trust you with her again?"

"Emily's a big girl, Serena."

"But she's always my little sister."

"She can make her own decisions. She was right about going after Dekker. Why can't she be right about me?"

"Because…"

Mike pulled out the ring and placed it in Serena's hand, "She turned down my proposal. The engagement is still off. I'm back to square one."

"You should be under my family's barn," Serena muttered.

"I know you hate me."

"Really? When did you first figure that out…?"

"Serena, you named your son after me."

"I thought I was right about his father, too. I'm not exactly a good judge of character."

"Please. You can sit in on the date. Whatever you want, I'll do it."

"I want you to be the man I named my son after," Serena said, "I want you to be the man I gave this ring to. You're going to be the man Emily wants you to be. If you hurt her, in any way…"

"I'll be under your barn…"

"Worse," Serena growled, "This is your final warning, Michael."

Mike smiled. That was all he needed.

"So, are you sitting in for dinner?"

"I like steak."

This was not how Mike imagined his first Valentine's Day with Emily. In fact, before the breakup he had a nice romantic evening planned. But under the circumstances, this was better than anything he could ever hope for.

Even if his girlfriend's protective and now very mean older sister would be sitting with them for dinner. At least he still had Emily.


End file.
